Once you’ve found partners you feel you can work with, your goal will be to keep everyone happy. Respect is the key and it’s a two-way street. Here are some things to keep in mind when exchanging your work.

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On presenting your work to others

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#1 Use correct formatting

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If someone takes the time to critique your work you owe it to them to make it as easy to read as possible. Always use standard submission formatting: double-spaced, Times New Roman, 1.5-inch margins, pages numbered, title and author name in the header.

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Handwritten scrawl, single-spaced print, and work with no indents or punctuation is not only hard to read, it leaves little room for your partners to write their comments. And if your aim is to get published you’ll want feedback on your formatting as much your writing.

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#2 Present work as error-free as possible

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No-one expects your work to be perfect but to get the most from your partners always give them your best effort. At the very least spell-check and read through your work to catch whatever typos you can. Never hand over something you know has mistakes in it as you’ll just be wasting everyone’s time.

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The one exception is if you’re having trouble with some element of the writing and want your partners’ thoughts on how to fix it. In that case it’s best to mention the issue when you give them the piece so they know what to focus on when reading it.

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Similarly, don’t hand over work you know you’re about to make major revisions to. Nothing is more frustrating than to spend hours thoughtfully considering someone’s work only to have them say, ‘Oh, I changed all that,’ when you give them your comments.

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#3 Specify what feedback you want

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Wherever possible help your partners by giving them specific questions or points to address when reading your work. Examples might include:

• Are my characters behaving believably in this scene?

• Is my story’s main conflict enough to sustain it through 400 pages?

• Does my dialogue sound realistic?

• How is the pacing in this chapter? Did I slow things down with too much backstory?

Inexperienced critics especially find it helpful to have specific questions or issues to consider as they read your work.

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#4  Listen to the feedback given

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If someone takes the time to review your work, show respect for their efforts by at least considering their comments. If you instantly dismiss every point your partners make they could end up wondering why they bothered.

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Even if you don’t agree with a point your partner is making, listen, nod and acknowledge you’ll think about. You don’t have to argue or justify your way (unless you want to clarify or discuss changes). And even if you disagree with everything a partner says, always thank them for their time.

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Believing your partners are on your side and want only to help you improve your writing makes hearing negative feedback easier. However, sensing that someone is making a comment just to show they know more than you definitely puts a different slant on things.

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If you find yourself getting defensive and dismissing everything your partners say, you need to consider one of two things: (a) they aren’t the partners for you, or (b) you aren’t ready to be critiqued.

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#5 Don’t feel you have to make changes suggested

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On the flip side of the above, never feel you have to make all, or even any, of the changes your partners suggest. With early drafts of a work your partners might not have a clear idea of what you’re trying to say. Allow yourself the freedom to explore a certain path before abandoning it and never feel pressured to do so. In any case it’s your story and if a suggestion doesn’t feel right, just don’t do it.

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On the other hand, if all your partners have the same criticism of the same point, you need to give some serious thought to why it isn’t working for them.

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#6 Feedback on feedback

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Every now and then, tell your partners which of their comments and areas of focus proved most helpful to you in revising your work. Knowing the kind of feedback you find most valuable will make them be more efficient at their job.

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#7 Going elsewhere

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When your story is reaching its final revisions it sometimes helps to give it to someone outside your critiquing group. Seek feedback from non-writers especially. Writers can get hung up on craft and miss the big picture. A reader, especially one who reads in your genre, can tell you simply if the story is working.

 

On giving feedback to others

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#1: Know when to leave someone else’s work alone

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This has to be one of the hardest things about critiquing! As Oscar Wilde put it: ‘There is no energy so great as the urge to rewrite someone else’s work.’

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If you value your partners as creative individuals avoid the temptation to tinker with their work simply to rephrase it in your own words. Most new and developing writers are still struggling to find their voice. Part of your role as their critiquing partner should be to encourage them to develop it.

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 #2: Find something good on every page.

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This isn’t always easy and not because the writing’s awful, in fact it’s usually the opposite. Mistakes leap out at you and are easier to see. But when the writing’s good you simply become immersed in the story.

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If you find the latter happening it’s important to try and determine exactly how the author accomplished it. Writers learn as much, if not more, from knowing what they’re doing right as from hearing their mistakes. Plus it helps you as a writer to clearly identify the elements of effective writing in use.

  

#3: Don’t overwhelm the author with comments.

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When I first started writing I once gave a chapter of a novel-in-progress to a writer friend who’s work I respected. A week later she returned my pages absolutely covered in red ink. All her comments were sincere and valid yet I ended up shoving the piece in a drawer and never went back to it. As a beginner I just couldn’t get past all that red!

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No matter how encouraging you are and how positively you phrase your remarks, making too many corrections at once is discouraging for any writer. If you’re faced with a piece of writing that has so many things wrong with it you don’t know where to begin, the safest thing to do is a broad-strokes critique. At most choose one or two finer points to comment on and leave the rest for another time.

Comments should always be directed to the work and not the person.

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#4: Vary your feedback according to what stage the work is at.

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This is mainly to save yourself time and effort. If someone hands you a rough first draft, stick to mainly broadstroke comments: Is the conflict apparent? Are the characters well motivated? Is the point of view clear? There’s no point doing a detailed line edit on work that will likely be changed in revision.

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#5 Trust your judgement

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If you’re new to critiquing and want help on how to go about it, try getting hold of a judge’s score sheet from one of the many writing organizations that hold annual competitions. Such sheets contain basic questions on plot, craft and style that help judges rate the entries. Considering such questions as you read your partner’s work will help you give them some valuable feedback.

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But remember, even if you don’t have a score sheet and know absolutely nothing about the craft of writing, if you read published works you’re well qualified to give feedback - as a reader.